Inaccessible Louvre Exhibit Highlights Ongoing Challenges For Persons Living With Disabilities in Iran

A popular exhibition by
the Louvre Museum in Paris at the National
Museum of Iran has come under criticism because it is inaccessible to people
living with disabilities.
From March 2018 until June, works of art from the Louvre will be displayed in
Tehran to mark the 80th anniversary of the Iranian museum.

"Unfortunately the National Museum of Iran, like many of our other public
spaces, does not have suitable facilities for the commute of individuals with
disabilities," tweeted Mahmoud
Sadeghi, a reformist member of Parliament (MP) from Tehran, on March 30, 2018.

"Of course, according to the authorities, the museum does have a special ramp,
but it has been closed due to a request from Louvre Museum officials in order to
protect the works on exhibit!" he added.

Exactly why the exhibit is inaccessible to persons with disabilities is unclear.

Even with a ramp, the exhibit would remain inaccessible to various people living
with disabilities since it would only assist people with wheelchairs with
getting in the front door.

Widespread Problems

The problem is not exclusive to the national museum in Tehran. The Cultural
Heritage and Tourism Organization has not implemented adequate measures at
various cultural sites including museums that would enable all citizens to visit
them.

In October 2015, Esmail Sheikh-Gharaei, the director general of the Pars
Association for the Disabled, described various shortcomings in public
infrastructure in Iran for people living with disabilities.

"The audio-visual departments at museums are not complete," he told the
semi-official Mehr News Agency. "The hearing-impaired cannot hear the guides and
the information posted next to the items in the museums is not complete in order
to free them from the need to hear the guides and to see well."

He continued: "There are also no museum guides that provide complete information
for the visually-impaired. For the latter group of individuals, there should be
a special room but there are none. In hotels there should be special rooms for
the disabled according to international standards but such facilities do not
exist even at Iran's five-star hotels."

"Also, the bath and sanitary service doors should be more than 80 centimeters
wide but how many hotels are complying to allow the disabled to enter with a
wheelchair?" asked Sheikh-Gharaei.

Two years later, in December 2017, the semi-official Iranian Students News
Agency (ISNA) reportedthat
the National Museum of Iran had made audio equipment available to blind people
but other museums in the country remain inaccessible to people living with
blindness or deafness.

Slow Pace of Change

Iranian officials have made numerous promises over the years to enhance
accessibility throughout the country but the pace of change has been slow or
insignificant.

In November 2017, Ali Asghar Mounesan, the vice president and director of the
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, told ISNA
that all tourist locations should be made accessible to everyone.

"Attention should be paid to preparing suitable spaces to allow the disabled and
veterans to make better use of them," he said. "Therefore, in the ratification
of plans by the National Development Fund, we will include compliance with
refitting principles in these areas."

The National Refitting Headquarters was established in
2014 to implement Article 2 of the Law for the Protection of the Rights of
Persons With Disabilities, which calls for making public spaces in Iran
accessible for everyone.

The organization was created to increase the quantity and quality of accessible
areas in Iran. However, many places in Iran are still not accessible to disabled
individuals four years after the organization's creation.

Inaccessible urban facilities and public areas can lead to isolation for persons
living with disabilities.

Officials have publicly acknowledged this issue.

"The city's lack of preparations for the disabled has resulted in them staying
at home, in some ways, imprisoned at home," said Tehran
Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi in March 2017.

According to Article
9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which
Iran ratified in 2009, the Iranian government must take "measures, which shall
include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to
accessibility."

According to Iran's Ministry of Labor, 10 million Iranians were living with
some form of a disability in 2017. But disability rights organizations have
reported that this number is much higher.

In 2016, only 1.3 million people living with disabilities in Iran were
registered with the Welfare Organization of Iran, the main organization
providing state services to people living with disabilities.